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One Spirit Lives
This article, One Spirit Lives is a prequel chapter to Bleach: Cataclysm, and follows Shiju Shūdō and his newly formed team Ikki. Timeline-wise it occurs in the immediate aftermath of the Collapse. ---- "I can't believe it..." A faint voice could be heard in the midst of the rubble. "Please, please tell me this is a nightmare..." The man who had just awoke was Shiju Shūdō, a former instructor of the institution that had just been burned to the ground: the Yuengiri Academy. Nothing more than flickering flames, ashes and rubble could be seen in the wake of this destruction. It was as if life itself had vanquished following the events. "No...I refuse to believe everyone has died!" Shiju roared, releasing a wave of white spiritual energy outwards, producing a shockwave strong enough to lift large chunks of debris from the ground and push them outwards, leaving a massive thud after Shiju's exerted effort. "Haaah..." Shiju panted, before his senses suddenly piked. He could feel the presence of others around him! "I can feel them...But where?" He focused his senses, managing to discern three distinct spiritual signatures, albeit the flames were flickering. The closest was only a few meters away from him, thankfully, so he stood up and, with some effort, limped towards his immediate right. Upon reaching, he noticed white hair, a lean body and...a completely mangled arm. "No..." Shiju knew who this was instinctively, and clenched his fist. "Satori..." As the young man heard the name, he awoke. However in accordance to his injuries, he suddenly screamed. "Aaaahhh!!!" His voice echoed, as he looked upon his mangled arm in horror. Shiju's eyes sprung open. Knowing fully well that leaving Satori in this state would be nothing more than harmful, he did all he could to assist in the situation. In that moment, he placed his palm over the young man's face, after his eyes rapidly dilated. To further assure that no further pain would be met by his student, Shiju proceeded to coat his hands in a thin film of electrical energy, delicately cutting off the mangled portion of Satori's arm — given that no medical practitioner was present — and cauterized his wounds as he did so. While Shiju prevented any further pain from occurring, he completely squandered any conventional cure to the limb, something he expressed deep regret for. Shiju moved on, retaining a surprising level of temporary internal calmness that caused his senses to momentarily peak once again. There was one place he had to go, albeit requiring over a hundred meters of travel north, which held two spiritual signatures that were, again, flickering flames. Given that he was able to do so little in this time, Shiju opted to carry Satori across his back. Despite the additional weight, on top of his injuries, Shiju focused his energy and managed to perform a surprisingly strong flash step, reaching his destination in the next moment. The sudden landing caused a thud that proceeded to wake the two. Shiju looked upon them and recognized both of them as Kisei and Minori respectively. Kisei, the boy with black hair, moaned as he noted his current state. He was injured, for sure, but nothing permanent had occurred. He proceeded to look at Minori, whom he was with during the events, noting that nothing wrong had occurred with her either. It suddenly hit him that his teacher, Shiju, had been in front of him the whole time. "Shiju-sensei, you're alive!?" He exasperated, suddenly panting, realizing the amount of exhaustion he felt. On the other hand, Minori, who was still slightly slow to wake, noticed Satori hinged on top of Shiju's back and immediately recognized the state of his arm. "Shiju-sensei!" She shouted, and Shiju looked to her direction slowly. "Satori's arm! What happened to it!?" As she mentioned that, Shiju's head steeped in shame. "Satori's arm...was severely mangled after that disaster," He began to say, placing the young man on the floor carefully. "He was screaming in pain and the blood loss was becoming too much to ignore. Without any immediate medics, I had to amputate him and simultaneously make him unconscious...I'm sorry..." Minori and Kisei both understood, nodding their heads in guilt as they looked upon Satori's state. "I cannot sense any more survivors among this disaster...I apologize I couldn't be of use." Shiju said, disheartened, as he suddenly noticed another spiritual pressure in the nearby vicinity. It was familiar to him. Looking around, Shiju's eyes captured the attention of foreign rubble among the Yuengiri Academy's terrtory. But as he looked closely, he realized the gravity of the situation and who the spiritual pressure was from. "Ōryū Temple?! Mitsuki!? Shit, shit shit!" Minori and Kisei, surprised by Shiju's sudden desperation, were met with his desperate gaze. "Both of you!" Shiju exclaimed, grabbing their attention. "You can still use Shunpo, to some extent, right?" The duo nodded affirmatively in response. "Good. Then both of you follow my lead. We're going to the direction of that half-broken temple." They both affirmatively responded. Shiju picked up Satori and put him on his back once more. Adrenaline rushed through his body, prompting him to take a flash step of greater magnitude than both of his students, despite sustaining much greater injuries, although the two were quick to catch up nevertheless. He reached the temple, noting its state, before witnessing Mitsuki, having lost all composure, charge towards him blindly. Shiju was quick to react, despite his injuries. He threw Satori towards Kisei and Minori, both of them catching him in time to subsequently witness Shiju and Mitsuki's confrontation. Shiju drew his zanpakutō from his waist and clashed with Mitsuki's own in but a moment. Mitsuki's stronger charge left Shiju on the receiving end, although that didn't matter to someone like Shiju. He received Mitsuki's sword strike, pulling him forward before placing his right foot behind Mitsuki's. He used his leg as an anchor to push his body weight towards that direction, spinning as he managed to evade Mitsuki's assault while simultaneously placing his sword just beneath Mitsuki's throat, trapping him from behind. "Mitsuki!" Shiju stated harshly from his position, suddenly returning the rampaging man to his senses. Mitsuki frantically looked around him before noticing three teenagers — one unconscious — and Shiju standing behind him, the latter only just letting go of his blade. "Shiju...uh...I'm sorry..." "Jeez, had me worried for no reason." Shiju sighed, "In any case...how did the temple end up here?" "I don't know." Mitsuki responded. "However...the sudden movement caused parts of the temple to shatter, as you can see. However, we do have enough space to accommodate for reprisal." "That'd be great. Lead the others in, I'll take Satori myself." Shiju stated, as he went back to pick up Satori, before immediately heading into the temple grounds, meanwhile, Mitsuki and the others made their way in slightly slower. ---- It had been a few days since those events. Shiju and his allies had been fully patched up. Satori was awake and made aware of the situation. Despite the loss of his dominant arm, he did not budge, instead, he vowed to make amends through even stricter training. Shiju was quiet for a while, as the other four stood near him, awaiting his judgement. "Well then. We can't change the past. However...we can work towards a better, stable future. The cycle of spirits has gone awry. Kentaro Hiroshi — whom all of you know of — and his allies, the Six Directions have taken their own measures to prevent the spirit cycle from completely extinguishing in this new world known as the Reikai, at least from what I have heard from him." Mitsuki, as soon as Shiju paused, asked him, "So what are we going to do?" Shiju responded, "Simple. I'm going to train all of you. And, we're going to join the Six Directions as an allied force to boost their military power under the name Ikki." Satori and the others affirmatively responded, although Mitsuki was quick to intervene. "But I can't exactly leave the temple unguarded?" Shiju responded again, "You won't need to. The Six Directions is close to here, essentially making us neighbors." He then stood up, "Many have perished...however, their spirits — our spirits — will never vanquish. We will stabilize this world as One Spirit!" As his bold declaration ended, the others had glints in their eyes from Shiju's resolve. Their purpose was confirmed, and so, their training began.